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Plastics engineering encompasses the processing, design, development, and manufacture of plastics products. A plastic is a polymeric material that is in a semi-liquid state, having the property of plasticity and exhibiting flow. Plastics engineering encompasses plastics material and plastic machinery. Plastic machinery is the general term for all types of machinery and devices used in the plastics processing industry. The nature of plastic materials poses unique challenges to an engineer. Mechanical properties of plastics are often difficult to quantify, and the plastics engineer has to design a product that meets certain specifications while keeping costs to a minimum. Other properties that the plastics engineer has to address include: outdoor weatherability, thermal properties such as upper use temperature, electrical properties, barrier properties, and resistance to chemical attack.
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Willis Harmon Ray is an American chemical engineer, control theorist, applied mathematician, and a Vilas Research emeritus professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison notable for being the 2000 winner of the prestigious Richard E. Bellman Control Heritage Award and the 2019 winner of the Neal Amundson Award.
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Robert Byron Bird was an American chemical engineer and professor emeritus in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was known for his research in transport phenomena of non-Newtonian fluids, including fluid dynamics of polymers, polymer kinetic theory, and rheology. He, along with Warren E. Stewart and Edwin N. Lightfoot, was an author of the classic textbook Transport Phenomena. Bird was a recipient of the National Medal of Science in 1987.
Crystallization of polymers is a process associated with partial alignment of their molecular chains. These chains fold together and form ordered regions called lamellae, which compose larger spheroidal structures named spherulites. Polymers can crystallize upon cooling from melting, mechanical stretching or solvent evaporation. Crystallization affects optical, mechanical, thermal and chemical properties of the polymer. The degree of crystallinity is estimated by different analytical methods and it typically ranges between 10 and 80%, with crystallized polymers often called "semi-crystalline". The properties of semi-crystalline polymers are determined not only by the degree of crystallinity, but also by the size and orientation of the molecular chains.
Chi Ming Chan, is a Chinese chemical engineer at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST).
James Lindsay White was an American polymer scientist.
High-performance plastics are plastics that meet higher requirements than standard or engineering plastics. They are more expensive and used in smaller amounts.
Christopher W. Macosko (1944) is an American chemical engineer and professor emeritus in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Minnesota. He is internationally known for his work in polymer science and engineering, especially in the areas of rheology and polymer processing. Macosko is an author of more than 500 academic papers, dozens of patents, and two books including the text: "Rheology: Principles, Measurements and Applications". He served as Director of the Industrial Partnership for Research in Interfacial and Materials Engineering (IPRIME), a university-industry consortium at the University of Minnesota, from 1999 to 2018. Macosko and his wife Kathleen have been married since 1967 and are long-time residents of Minneapolis. They have four children and 12 grandchildren.
Rudolf Erdmenger was a German mechanical engineer and process engineer and the main inventor of the co-rotating twin screw extruder.
References
- ↑ "Tim Osswald". University of Wisconsin-Madison.
- ↑ "Polymer Engineering Center". University of Wisconsin-Madison.
- ↑ "Journal of Plastics Technology". Kunststoffe-International.
- ↑ "Journal of Polymer Engineering". Walter de Gruyter.
- ↑ "Presidential Young Investigator Award: Polymer Processing, Modelling and Simulation". National Science Foundation.
- ↑ "Plastics Pocket Power". Hanser Verlag.
